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14/10/2016

Taking Thomas on our Travels

Last week we set off on a little road trip to West Wales and a few days filled of free range fun at Bluestone, with the plan to have lots of quality family time without screens and focusing on the little things that are important to us like getting lots of fresh air, eating good food and being mindful of the present. The thing is when you are planning a simple and screen free getaway you need to be prepared and have a few things on hand so that boredom doesn't set in which it quickly can as the days come to an end and evening sets in.

My eldest has always been fascinated with tractors and farm machines but Baby G who is now nearly 20mins is obsessed with trains and Thomas the tank which I find quite funny as we have always been a gender neutral household but they have both naturally geared towards these two things. With Baby G being completely taken with trains is sparked something in my eldest as well who for the first time is also enjoy watching Thomas episodes as well as rediscovering the large train set we have.

So we decided that taking the new Thomas Big Pop-up Journey with us on our family getaway would the perfect way to keep both boys happy in the evening while I made the food. It's such a fun fold-out book which turns into a 3-D play mat and bringing the world of Thomas to life. The book also comes with loads of cardboard play pieces of all the favourite engines and Harold the helicopter and really does offer hours of fun and the chance for little ones to make up their own stories and bring the imagination into play, something which can be easily lost with phones and iPads offering up instant movies.

It's really nice having something that engages young children but doesn't have any flashing lights or loud noises and gives them a chance to be in control of the story , which this book and play mat does.

These giant fold-out Thomas playbook retail at £14.99 which I think is great value as both boys have been playing with it since we got it and would make a perfect Christmas gift for any Thomas fans and I also have a code for 10% off print on demand books at the Egmont Shop just use the code Thomas10

Best of all is I have a Thomas Big Pop-up Journey book to giveaway to one lucky reader. It's super easy to enter and closes on the 30th October 2016. Giveaway winner will be picked at random.

My little man loved (and still does) a little rattle/plush toy crocodile, called chopodile. It came with a onsie, as a set when he was born and he's always loved it, since he could first hold anything other than my finger!

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